The present invention relates to use of a lawn chair or recliner for sunbathing purposes and more particularly to a sprinkling device to enhance the tanning effect of the solar rays while maintaining a comfortably cool body temperature.
It is generally believed that the combination of sunlight and water on the bare human body beneficially accelerates the rate of tanning and has other desirable theraputic effects while keeping the body temperature comfortably cool. Previous combination sunbathing and sprinkling apparatus had several disadvantages so limiting their use that they never became generally available. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 2,770,812 discloses a body supporting and bathing device in which sprinkler openings directed toward the sunbather are provided in the supporting framework of the device itself, this has the drawback of being limited for all practical purposes to a flat, horizontal frame and is not readily adaptable to conventional lawn chairs and recliners having tiltably adjustable head and foot sections. Another example of the prior art, U.S. Pat. No. 3,625,434, discloses a lawn chair in which the tubular supporting framework comprises conduits and mounting means for a series of water nozzles directed toward the sunbather; this has the drawback of requiring special fittings into the frame and special watertight joints between sections and is limited to use on only a few special types of lawn chairs where these adaptations are possible.
Instead of using the lawn chair framework as tubular conduit means, it is far preferable to have the water in a separate conduit, such as a sprinkler hose fastened along opposite sides. Where the chair is of the type having head and foot end sections which are vertically adjustable relative to an intermediate section, it is important that the hose be flexible so it can bend at the joints between the frame sections. However, in a hose having such flexibility, the crossover portion will twist, bend, and distort outwardly if internal water pressure is applied without the present invention.